UK government sets up new cyber security innovation centre in London

The UK government has announced that it will invest up to £14.5m to set up a new innovation centre in London, as part of its efforts to avert cyber attacks and threats.

The centre will develop new cyber security technology solutions to bolster the UK’s cyber security defences.

A competition to pick a company to develop and design the new centre has already been launched by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The government will invest in the new centre over the next three years.

UK Minister for Digital Matt Hancock said: “London is one of the world’s most important tech sectors, with a record £5.6 billion investment in the industry in the past six months and a new tech firm formed every hour in the capital.

“Our investment in a new cyber innovation centre will not only cement the city’s position as a world leader but also boost the whole country by giving UK firms access to the latest cyber technology and allowing start-ups to get the support they need to develop.”

The innovation centre will bring together large firms to work in collaboration with innovative startups and industry experts to develop new technologies businesses.

It is aimed at ensuring that the UK’s entrepreneurs will come up with new solutions to secure crucial investments.

The new centre will allow startups to gain access to expert technical mentoring, business support and advice. It will support startups to grow in their early stages and contribute to the UK’s thriving £22bn cyber security sector. The innovation centre is expected to open in early 2018.

“Cyber threats are an ever present risk for governments and businesses, and in recent months we have seen attacks increase in both scale and frequency – with the WannaCry attack exposing vulnerabilities in the NHS’ cyber defences. Active collaboration between intelligence agencies, cyber researchers and businesses is necessary to reduce the prevalence of cyber-attacks in the long-term,” said Kirill Kasavchenko, Principal Security Technologist, EMEA at Arbor Networks.

“This new innovation centre shows a clear commitment from the government that it will foster closer relationships between these parties. It’s also great to see the government working to ensure UK firms have access to the latest cyber technology to secure their businesses. Intelligence sharing can help organisations better prepare for attacks, and can improve their detection and containment capabilities.”

It is part of the UK government’s £1.9bn investment to boost the country’s cyber security defences.

The government said: “The new centre will build on London’s thriving digital start-up scene with one tech company estimated to be formed every hour in the capital.”

“It is one of two new centres being developed to help make sure UK firms have access to the latest cyber technology to secure their businesses.”